Seeking to be faithful in the 21st Century...
Moving from competition to cooperation...
The congregations of West, Calvary, Concord and Elsmere Presbyterian
Churches are on a new journey together. Calling our journey the
"Emerging Parish", we are seeking together to find a new way of
worship, service, study, fellowship, and being
church together that enables faithful mission and ministry far into the
future. The sessions of each of these churches have agreed that for
an initial 5 year period beginning January 2008, our congregations
will explore and experiment together with new forms and types of
ministries and structures as we seek to be the people God calls us to
be in the 21st century. We believe a key to this new journey will be
a movement away from a competition to cooperation as we seek to
respond to God’s call in this new day and age.
The Vision for the Emerging Parish:
The Emerging Parish Project involves creating a new paradigm for
ministry and a new way of being church by uniting several churches
into a single Parish. We envision creating a new way of being
together that
- preserves strengths,
- creates new energy,
- gives new vision,
- enables our faith community to thrive.
While this new way of being in ministry may ultimately mean that
our current congregations cease to exist as completely separate
entities, this model is intended to
- preserve and enhance the strengths of each current
congregation,
- free us to undertake new forms of ministry,
- give us additional resources to be engaged in faithful
mission,
- help us to become an effective witness in a quickly changing
world.
The creation of this new structure -- a new church -- has the
possibility of igniting a new spark of faith among us all that
encourages and enables faithful response to God’s love far into the
future.
Undergirding this Vision are some important beliefs:
- Each of our congregations has a unique and important
ministry and mission, and that the loss any of these
congregations would be a significant loss to the communities we
serve.
- Each of our congregations has experienced over many years a
significant reduction in both fiscal and human resources.
- Continuing to do “business as usual” or making only minor
changes in the way we function, will not enable our
congregations to continue faithful mission and ministry far into
the future.
- While each of our churches is unique and while there is
diversity in belief, style and mission among our congregations,
we are united by our faith, our denomination, and our God. The
diversity among us may help us to explore new directions and
represents opportunities for new vision and faithfulness. The
unity among us provides a source of strength and stability.
- The maintenance of our current organizational structure is
less important than being engaged in faithful mission and
ministry.
- Through the sharing of resources and the creation of a new
way of being together, there may be significant reductions in
cost, as well as significant opportunities to expand our mission
and ministries in new directions.
- Our current models and structures for ministry were
developed at a time when our communities, our culture, and our
congregations were different than they are today, and different
than they will be in the coming years. A new day calls forth a
new way of being which capitalizes on the gifts that God has
given us, and helps us meet the new challenges of a rapidly
changing world.
As we explore and begin to implement the Emerging Parish Vision:
- each congregation will be in prayer for our partner
churches,
- a council that will guide the implementation of the new
project will be created with representatives from each
participating congregation,
- the pastors of each church will meet regularly
together for prayer, support, and conversation.